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Blogs Intel should simplify its CPU naming policy

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by brumgrunt, 29 Nov 2012.

  1. Hustler

    Hustler Minimodder

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    Places like PC World thrive on confusing product ranges, it lets them sell unsuitable, more expensive products to the gullible and uniformed.
     
  2. Blackshark

    Blackshark What's a Dremel?

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    And you havent mentioned the Xeon range - which is like the desktop range in terms of naming only worse.... much much worse. The only thing that is positive is the first number representing the No. of CPUs per board.
     
  3. greigaitken

    greigaitken Minimodder

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    I was looking at laptops in pcworld other week (need hands on) and just looked up the cpu on cpubenchmark on the actual laptop.
    If only a store would have said benchmark next to each product....
     
  4. blacko

    blacko What's a Dremel?

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    or just a sign saying "it can run crysis"
     
  5. Petrol head

    Petrol head What's a Dremel?

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    I am sorry but take it from a person that works in a leasing company as a Technical customer service adviser. They most certainly do not know what they are buying. Many don't even check if a dealer is anywhere near them for gods sake. I agree with GuilleAcoustic but would add their mechanic mate down the pub said it was good!

    As for the intel line up I now ask what they want it for and just point out what they should be looking to get. Too hard to explain and tired of watching people eye's roll back in their head when I try!
     
    Last edited: 29 Nov 2012
  6. fdbh96

    fdbh96 What's a Dremel?

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    I think for once apple have done a good job with naming their product lines and Intel should follow suit.

    Eg: Intel mini
    Intel
    Intel Pro

    Thats purely an example but is there really any point in releasing 5 cpus with the same cores etc but with +0.1 GHz.
     
  7. supermonkey

    supermonkey Deal with it

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    I'm holding out for the Double-Plus-Fastest chip. I heard some guy ranting about it the other day - apparently you get a red sash with every purchase!
     
  8. faugusztin

    faugusztin I *am* the guy with two left hands

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    And you even missed ULV :D.
     
  9. xxxsonic1971

    xxxsonic1971 W.O.T xxxsonic1971

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    Place names from around the world would be a great way to name cpu's,- you could have something like 'bronx' for cheap parts, and 'balmoral' for the expensive range lol!
     
  10. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    On Wikipedia there seems to be 26 individual ivy bridge skus. I'm sure sandy bridge has similar. What would be so wrong with two i7s one non k, the same for i5, one i3 and a Pentium which should be called an i1. Pre curse each one with the generation. So you have Gen3-i7 for example as the actual name.

    Perhaps the large number of SKUs is a yield thing. Or perhaps they are pandering too much to OEM requests
     
  11. Saivert

    Saivert Minimodder

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    But what tiers do we want from CPU vendors?
    I propose a streamlined system where the top tier has all CPU features enabled and models just differ in core count and stock clock frequency.
    And second tier has features disabled.
    Not sure about a third one.
    I have not given this much thought yet.
     
  12. Zener Diode

    Zener Diode User Title

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    Last time I bought a CPU it was an i7 920. I remember I had to contact the (online) retailers to find out if it was the D0 or C0 stepping version; they had no idea what I was talking about.
     
  13. Guinevere

    Guinevere Mega Mom

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    For the life of me I can't remember the 'name' of the CPU in my laptop. It's i7, quad core + hyper threading with a base clock of 2.7. It'll turbo boost (or whatever) itself to something higher than 2.7 and it zooms along like sit off a shovel*

    Most importantly it was the best I could get built into the hardware, that was all I really needed to know as the primary reason to upgrade was to get the fastest raw CPU performance I could.

    I don't even think the CPU has a proper name, just a random collection of digits like a postal code or truncated software licence key.

    *redacted
     
  14. Eng_Toasty

    Eng_Toasty What's a Dremel?

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    I can see that part of the problem lies in the manufacturing process tolerances. If the end product is out of specification but still functional why throw it out when you can re-package and sell it as a new product variant, hence the tri-core athlons in their last generation.
     
  15. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    All the star rating seems to do is basically rank celeron, pentium and i3 to i7 in order of performance. What a freaking joke. You wouldn't need a star rating system if the processors followed a naming convention which ranked them in order naturally. Plus if the wikipedia entry on all the ivy bridge SKUs is correct then for the i5 series you have 15 processors, all with different prices and all with the same star rating.

    Surely this is the number one reason engineers shouldn't do marketing...or be allowed out of their dark room.

    :wallbash:
     
    Last edited: 30 Nov 2012
  16. jamsand

    jamsand Minimodder

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    Less tech savvy, I had to explain it to myself when i decided to get a laptop lol
     
  17. Sloth

    Sloth #yolo #swag

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    That's almost identical to a conversation I had with a friend. Software guy who's knowledgable about PCs, but not hardware specifics and current models. Big confusing mess trying to sort out i3, 5 and 7, then the chipsets, then the K models, then Ivy vs. Sandy... He ended up holding out on purchasing for the time being.

    Kind of worrying as his purchasing process was "Go to Newegg.com, go to Intel, buy expensive CPU with the bigger number, find bundle deal with expensive motherboard"!
     
  18. supermonkey

    supermonkey Deal with it

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    Ok, I'll be the one to say it. Could this be one of the contributing reasons that so many people buy a Mac? I understand that the blog post focused on processor selection, and that might be more limited to people who are looking to purchase individual components. However, I just took a look at the Dell website and selected the link for basic home computers. Dell presented four options: Intel Pentium Dual Core, 2nd Gen Core i3, 3rd Gen Core i5, and 3rd Gen Core i7. Based on what I've read here, those descriptions might not be entirely accurate. Further adding confusion, when I checked the 'Core i5' box I was presented with 18 different options (though some of them seemed to be duplicates - why lists them twice?). Selecting 'Core i7' gave me 25 options.

    A quick look at the Apple website shows that the iMac comes in 4 options: 2 choices for 21.5 inch; 2 choices for 27 inch.

    I'm fully aware of the standard arguments that will now commence. Sheep, morons, cost, et cetera. Yes, it's a walled-garden approach with limited selection. Based on profits, it seems to be working quite well. Perhaps the other PC manufacturers should take a lesson and start paring down their offerings.

    /dons flame-proof suit
     
  19. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    I think thats more of a problem with dell, than a mac versus a windows thing. But simplicity is key to Macs and the like. However this time I do agree with Apple's approach. The only reason I see for that vast array of individual SKUs is that OEMs need to shave off tiny amounts of money here and there to make profit or to add other features. Use a slightly slower processor and put the money saved towards adding bluetooth for example. I don't think there is a need to give everyday consumers or enthusiasts that wide a range of processors.
     
  20. AmEv

    AmEv Meow meow. See yall in 2-ish years!

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    You missed PowerIntel :p
     
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